Tag Archives: Linus Torvalds

The GNU/Linux computer operating system created through the sewing of miscellaneous Richard Stallman body parts around Linus Torvalds‘ heart is not perfect. Here’s a list of my 5 top pet peeves:

coming in at #5 is the fact that using the GNU/Linux operating system causes me great distress due to the guilt of not having paid $300+ to purchase this operating system in a very earth-unfriendly, made-in-China package from my local Bloat Buy retail software outlet.

#4 would, of course, be the pain caused by my empathetic tendencies toward those poor souls out there using other operating systems, and my terrible evangelistic need to convert them all. I’m becoming a damned Jehovah’s Witness of GNU/Linux… *Knock-Knock* “Hello, ma’am. I’d like to talk with you a bit today about the everlasting joy of Linux. Come to the light with me, won’t you? Yes, you can bring your cat, too.”

3rd on the list is the fact that GNU/Linux does not follow the engineered obsolescence business plan that has kept free markets and manufacturing buzzing for the past 50 years. It is instead a steady, long-life item that will eventually put many folks out of work. Besides, the best distributions are given away for no cost at all. What’s up with this? This is NOT your granddad’sCapitalism, comrades.

my 2nd most peeving peeve is the gnawing certainty that the GNU/Linux was actually a technology that the C.I.A. leaked after discovering its usage in the computers on that crashed alien craft that’s kept in storage in Area 51. No current human intellect could have come up with something so efficient and useful. I think the aliens may have assimilated us without our knowledge or consent. Maybe that’s a good thing, upon further reflection.

and first/foremost on my list is the fact that GNU/Linux has increased my boredom exponentially over the last 5 years. I no longer have to run crap cleaners, antivirus apps, defraggers, malware hunters, cookie cullers, bloated/inefficient backup apps, etc. Sheeesh! I have all this time on my hands to do really useful computer stuff nowadays. So, what do I do? I choose to sit here and tap out masterpieces such as this one for your entertainment and enlightenment.

Hey folks, gotta’ a bit of news for you. Linux is an operating system. Using Linux will not redeem your immortal soul. It won’t even grant you that out-of-body experience you’ve been wanting.

It’s a friggin’ piece of software. It’s a bunch of computer code (mostly C and assembly) written to interact with a bunch of components on a mother board in a box on your desk. Linus Torvalds is NOT a god. Richard Stallman is not the High Priest of FOSS. Wake up and smell the burning capacitors, folks. Ya’ gotta’ push yourself up out of that computer chair and plow through the pizza boxes, soda cans, and cig butts to get outside for some fresh air and a bit of sun. You’re looking mighty pasty.

I spend my days at Linux forums and websites all over the Net. I listen to the fan-boys rant on about FOSS this and Richard Stallman says that. They rant on about which Linux distribution (usually the one they have on their own systems) is the very best. They whine and complain about more popular Linux’s like Ubuntu and Redhat because non-Linux folks think that those distributions are THE Linux that everyone is talking about at tech weinee gatherings.

*sigh*

You know, folks… there are really important things going on outside your door. There’s a huge oil slick forming in the Gulf of Mexico and threatening to slime up a 1000 miles of coastline. There’s a flakin’ whack job, Mow Mow Im-a-dinner-jacket, the president of Iran, who likes to play with nuclear fissionable materials. There are real religious fan-boys placing fertilzer and gasoline bombs in stolen SUVs in Time Square. C’MON! Is it really a big deal that auntie Emma thought Ubuntu was the ONLY Linux operating system? Dude! She only checks her email and visits KNellie’s Knitting Korner website. Who gives a rat’s rear area if she doesn’t care whether her beer is free or not.

What’s the point of this semi-rant? I’m getting to it. Have some patience. I have some more white space to fill first.

Linus did a wonderful thing when he created Linux. Richard Stallman has noble intentions regarding free access to knowledge for everyone. You are not to blame because of your own beliefs, tenets, or even your “brand loyalty” to your favorite distribution or application or whatever. What we all have to be reminded of from time to time is that there are other ways to do things. It’s OK to make a buck off something you created. It’s called Capitalism. It makes the world go round. Capitalism isn’t a bad thing. It’s GREED that’s bad. We’ll talk about that another day, though.

Remember that no matter who uses what operating system, the people behind the keyboards are real people just like you and me. They wake up every day and do things a lot like how you and I do them. They run MS Windows on their computers. They run MacOS. They run many, many different distributions of Linux on their systems. All of us are just trying to do what we need to do. We use our computers to earn a living or for pleasure or both. When we turn them on, our biggest concern is that they work as they did yesterday and the day before. When we double click the desktop icon for an app that we need to perform something we want to do, we rarely think of that app’s creator, the license type, or whether it’s open or closed source. We just want it to work.

Be appreciative of FOSS, Linus, and Stallman; but also be sensitive and respectful to those who have other cares than you. Just because they don’t believe, as I do, that Patrick Volkerding IS a god and Slackware Linux IS the coolest Linux distribution in existence, doesn’t mean they’re bad folks. All this rant was just to say… be nice, be kind, be considerate when discussing your favorites and beliefs regarding operating systems and software. Shit draws as many flies as honey, but honey sure smells better in your computer room. Besides, that desk your sitting at is already pretty nasty.

You fondle it. You move it about. You click it. You might even smear your boogers on it.

It’s the lowly computer mouse. Something you’ve rarely, if ever, given any serious thought to. You should have, though. It has an interesting story behind it. Did you ever wonder where the computer mouse came from? I mean… who would have thought of such a whacked out thing? Bill Gates? Nah. Linus Torvalds? Nah… actually, the computer mouse was invented six years before Linus was born. Got your curiosity up yet?

Earlier this evening, I was sitting here munching on a bowl of Crispy Hexagons. It’s a generic knockoff of Kellogg’s® Crispix® cereal sold by a local grocery chain here in my area. Anyway, on the back of the box was a series of brief articles about inventions. One of them was the computer mouse. I read it and thought, “WOW! I didn’t know that.” So I did a little online research and decided to post an article here about what I learned. Amazing where you can find inspiration for blog articles, huh?

It seems that back in 1963 an engineer named Douglas Englebart working for the Standford Research Institute was piddling around in the lab one day and cobbled together a device that could convert physical motion (on a desktop, for instance) into input data for other uses. Englebart called the device a mouse because the connecting wire reminded him of a mouse’s tail. The invention was just a part of Engelbart’s much larger project, aimed at augmenting human intellect.

John C. Dvorak, a well known columnist for PC Magazine and other periodicals and websites, once said, “There is no evidence that people want to use these things.” HA! Hope you didn’t have any money on that horse, John. Sadly, Englebart’s patent ran out before the mouse came into popular usage with modern personal computers. He never made a penny off of his invention. The good ol’ computer mouse… where would we be without it?

Mice are like shoes, too. Everyone has their own favorite. I prefer trackballs. I started using one (a Logitech Trakman) about six or seven years ago and just never turned back. I used to be into gaming (1st person shooters) back then and found that I could play much faster and more accurately with the trackball rather than the standard mouse. It requires a lot less desktop real estate, since you don’t have to move the actual mouse to navigate.